By the Fire
by wyoluvr
Summary: Late night by the fire. Set in the Seventh Year.


Title: By the Fire  
Author: Criss Moody wyoluvr@y...  
Website: http://ficbitch.com/hpf  
Date: August 19th, 2002  
Distribution: List archives. Otherwise, ask.  
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is full and proud owner. I'm just  
following a tidal wave.  
Summary: Late night by the fire. Set in the Seventh Year  
at Hogwarts for the crew.  
Improv: #10, crown, root, glitter, spring  
Notes: Kass fixed commas and words and cackled at me. She  
also gave me these words (ginger, hint, myth) to work from.  
All remaining faults and badness are mine.  
  
  
  
The faint aroma of ginger tea tickled at Ron's nose. He  
rubbed at it, opening his eyes lazily to see his friends  
moving quietly around the Gryffindor common room. It was  
Christmas Eve and this year they'd decided to stay put.   
Things were quiet but Ron and Hermione felt better near  
Harry. Not safe, exactly, because Ron was sure that being  
near Harry had never been safe. Yet here they were.   
  
"Ron, I saw your hand move. Are you getting up or should I  
just pour this tea down your mouth for you?"  
  
Sans crown and scepter, she still sounded like a bloody  
queen. Hermione's matter-of-fact tone hardly ever failed  
to annoy him, if just a bit. She always sounded so damned  
smart. Wisps of hair floated out of the twist she'd  
wrangled her hair into on top of her head. Same hair, same  
face, years older. And yes, she was different. No spells,  
just a final blossoming into this strange creature with  
hips and breasts that wore Hermione's intelligence on a  
face not a few fellow students had pursued.   
  
"Well, if you're offering…"  
  
"Oh, bother that. Get up. I've better things to do." The  
tea was set down with a clatter. The witch strode back to  
the fire, where Harry now sat, supposedly very interested  
in…uh, Ron squinted to read the title…oh, yes. "Root  
Potions of a Muggle Nature to Be Used Only in Case of  
Vampire Attack."  
  
Ron thought he heard snoring from Harry's chest, but if  
Hermione hadn't noticed, why not leave the poor bugger  
alone?  
  
"Alright then, here we go. Book me, Hermione. What  
useless knowledge can we learn today that won't do a damn  
thing to stop Vol…You Know Who."  
  
Surprising. He didn't slip up much. Had to keep up a  
brave front, even if it was a collective brave front, put  
on for people outside the three of them. Still, it didn't  
hurt to put the best turn on matters.   
  
As for You Know Who, well, Ron had personally faced the  
man, the myth, the half-formed creature and his minions so  
many times that it was getting to be old hat. Really,  
ol'Scary ought to get a better line than, "And I will  
destroy Harry Potter, damn his eyes." Was getting old, it  
was.  
  
He flopped into the third chair before the fire, grabbing  
the book Hermione held out. "How to Not Be a Pissy Git."   
His eyes narrowed.   
  
"Aperirio!" The title faded into, "The Myth and Truth of  
Dark Magic."  
  
"Funny. Very funny."  
  
Her lips pursed into a smirk.  
  
"I rather thought so." She shut her own book with a smack  
as Ron opened his. Harry didn't even blink.  
  
"Ron, you need to, I don't know, relax? Calm down? You've  
been so moody lately. Sleeping for 12 hours. Missing  
classes. And you almost fried poor McGonagall for asking  
you if you planned on simply sleeping through the rest of  
the year."  
  
Dark eyes, with years of practice, trained themselves on  
Ron's now fidgeting form. This was what you got when your  
friends knew you too well. They knew you weren't being a  
normal 18 year old boy, eager to leave school.   
  
"'m fine, Hermione. Really. Duckie."  
  
More look. She crooked her head to the left and leaned it  
on one hand.  
  
Ron looked at Harry. Eyes, wide open, fixed on the same  
page they'd been looking out for over an hour. A fleeting  
wish for an attack passed through Ron, squashed the instant  
it appeared.   
  
"Missing a few classes is nothing, Hermione, and you know  
it. Ok, I've been sleeping too much but come on! The past  
few months haven't been fun. Or restful."  
  
They shared a brief mutual shudder. If they lived to be as  
old as the oldest witch and warlock, they'd never forget  
thinking they'd killed Harry. Thinking he'd turned. In  
Ron's nightmares, Harry's eyes still glittered as he cast  
Cruciatus on one classmate after another. Harry's body, or  
what they'd thought was his body, flew into the air as the  
power of over a dozen students hit him, disrupting his  
killing spree. Ron remembered waking up in the infirmary  
to Harry's wan face. They'd been fighting a golem infused  
with Harry's self. The actual Harry had been in the depths  
of Hogwarts, awake and aware that a thing with his face and  
mannerisms was almost succeeding in killing his friends.  
  
"Yes, you've got a point there." Whatever sympathy lay in  
Herman's statement vanished. "But you can't wallow in it.   
None of us can. We don't really know what's coming, do we?  
All we can do is be ready. And together."  
  
She touched Ron's and Harry's hands. A light tingle ran  
through them. Harry grunted but didn't waken. Lucky  
bugger.  
  
He hated her to be so right. All the time. Well, nearly  
all the time. She still thought Harry got all cross-eyed  
when she went off with some boy because he worried about  
her being away from them. She was partly right. Daft  
girl.  
  
"Right-o. Starting now, I'll be awake." He cast a faux  
look of surprise at Harry. "Gosh, Hermione, look who's…"  
  
"Ron Weasley, if you even think of sleeping right now, I'll  
put so many curses on your clothing you'll be naked until  
Doomsday."  
  
He grinned. World couldn't be all bad when Hermione was  
threatening and referencing the Muggle world.   
  
"You're no fun, 'av I ever told you that?"  
  
She shook her head and opened up her book. "Yes,  
constantly. Now read."  
  
"Yes Ma'am!"  
  
Several pages of dusty, boring Myths and Truths later, Ron  
saw Harry's eyelids spring open out of the corner of his  
eye.   
  
"Have a nice nap, Harry?"  
  
"Shut up. Was just resting my eyes."  
  
"Well, why don't you both rest them on your books. We've  
an hour 'till full dark."  
  
Ron smirked at Harry who stuck his tongue out in  
retaliation. Hermione sighed and burrowed deeper into her  
chair.   
  



End file.
